Runover?! Who cares??

This is a discussion on Runover?! Who cares?? within Street Experiences, part of the Buckle Up category; Some years back when i had a zen, I was doing like 110/120 on the Goa highway when this maruti ...

Some years back when i had a zen, I was doing like 110/120 on the Goa highway when this maruti 800 overtook me at like 130+ and went on overtaking a trailor who was in front of us at a little distance going at around 75 to 80 on a blind turn and there was an ST bus coming at around 80 from the opposite side. This dude did not even have the time to brake as I never saw his tail lights come on and BANG went into the ST head on .

Everyone came to a screeching halt. Everyone surrounded the car, The ST guy was shaken, the passengers came out but NONE even bothered to try and pull the victims out from the mangle. They were STUCK in between the insides of an 800, all unconcious. 2 guys and one girl. The girl had all her front teeth fallen inside the 800. The front passengers had their legs crushed and inbetween the floor, steering and the seat of the 800.

Immediately my mama and me got the jack out from the zen, started placing it at specific locations to open the mangle up. Both of u pushed and pulled everything in the 800 with all our might, also with the help of the jack and got the driver out, the girl was pulled out and rested on ground, still unconcious.

The front passenger took a lot of time to be fished out, but none of the people standing there had the heart to touch anyone.

Ultimately the ambulance came and they were taken away after 45 minutes.

I gave everyone the biggest lecture they would have heard in their lives.

I don't know if the victims are alive or not, back on their feet or not, but one thing I know, I did what i could instead of standing there like a statue and watching someone die.

If u can't help anyone, you don't deserve to be helped if you do end up in a situation like that. Period ! I had posted about this incident on teambhp too some years back along with the pictures of the 800

scuderiamania@ - Don't worry, help someone the next time and everytime from now on, of course after judging the situation. On a rainy night and alone on the highway or on a road know for mugging I would not stop too

@scuderiamania : We appreciate your honesty in admitting that you had failed in acting promptly. We all make mistakes and I'm sure that the guilt which you feel right now will be enough to make you shed that inhibition and reach out to the victim next time.

@scuderiamania : what you felt is enough, as others have said next time you will do differently. you will find many people who will say "i overtook a car goin 170", "i did b'lore-mumbai in 14 hours" etc, but not many who say "i let myself down".

I've been helped by fellow motorists, when I braked and fell trying to avoid hitting a lady who turned without signaling.

I'm not saying we should't help. A life is worth saving.

I'm just noting down a few experiences I've had.

It was ages ago (15yrs).
Early morning we heard a sound outside our house and a cry.
An old man was on the road bleeding (he was known to us, and is from a poor family).

We took the car and took him to the hospital at the same time my mother called and informed a house near to the old chap's house.

His injuries were not serious and as the doctor was patching him up.
He flipped on us and claimed our car is the one that hit him.
Since we know his wife/son we did't land in soup.

Another one.

This was soon after my grand mother expired.
One fine day a cop and a man came to our house.

Cop guy said its about an accident investigation.
He said there was an accident on xx date (it was the same day of my grand mother's funeral). It was apparently a hit and run (or rather hit and escape). The chaps who "escaped" said they were attending a funeral.

Soon the guy who came with the cop "identified" the driver of the car as my dad. I replied to this very rudely and said this chap has to be taken to a Mental Hospital.

Cop became angry and threatened will take legal action.
Dad was cool and composed and politely asked them to leave and take whatever action they want.

Never heard from them after that.

Anyway in my home town (Cochin) situation was very bad. Cops came with a volunteer group "Cochin City Action Force" Basic trauma training, ID's and Stickers were given to whoever passes the course and the exam.

I'm not sure if its there anymore.

I was a member and used to stop at any road mishaps and offer help. Luckily never had to see a serious one till date.

I've been helped by fellow motorists, when I braked and fell trying to avoid hitting a lady who turned without signaling. I'm not saying we should't help. A life is worth saving

Well said, a very important feeling, of being helped when we are in trouble, which is enough to push us into helping the victims in whatever best way we can.

Quote:

Originally Posted by yzfrj

"Cochin City Action Force" Basic trauma training, ID's and Stickers were given to whoever passes the course and the exam.

This is again an excellent initiative. Even if a few of the bystanders in an accident happen to have this training and have their ID cards on them, lives can be saved with not much harrasment anticipated, on account of the samaritans being authorised to help, in the first place.

Well, my point is not to say "Don't help", instead saying, get trained to help. This has been discussed earlier on page 1. Offering help is a good deed, however, it should be done correctly, like not be breaking the neck & making someone permanently disabled.

If someone cannot stand to see others crying on road for help & wants to help, undergo some professional training. Join the red cross society & no one can question.

There was once a guy who wasn't paying attention on the road, comes himself & gets knocked against my Uncle's two-wheeler & there was nothing big deal as this guy gets up on his own & examines his injuries. However, my Uncle offered him first aid from a nearest hospital. This guy changes his color in the hospital & even calls the cops. My Uncle narrated the incident to the cops & showed his red cross ID & the cops walked away without a trace!!!

Not everyone is kind enough with people who help them; once they're back on their legs, they start showing their true colors, except a few.

Point - Get qualified to help, otherwise suffer with the bureaucracies.

Am not sure if I have shared this incident before in the forum. This happened a few years back on the ROB just before Vaniyambadi toll booth (then non operational) when you come from Chennai. Regulars would know the ROB actually takes a curve as it comes down. While coming down I realised there was a guy who was lying on the road in the extreme right lane and I saw a lorry turning left to avoid hitting him. Without stopping I drove down to the toll booth knowing there was an ambulance stationed there at most times. When I brought the ambulance to the spot we realised the guy was fully drunk. What irritated me more was the village guys around were mentioning to us this happens regularly why did you bring the ambulance, I ended up being a fool. Nevertheless in my opinion it is better to be a fool than doing nothing.

This happened to us last month,when we were driving from Chennai to Hyd on the NH5.We were cruising at about 80kph in our Maruti 800 and NH5 is notorious for buffalo crossing.On the outskirts of Ongole,we see two buffaloes being herded on the roadside and walking in the opposite lane towards chennai,suddenly a group of guys walking on the road started throwing stones on the cattle just for fun,the buffaloes panicked and ran straight onto the road got onto the median,and all this was happening in a fraction of a second,and from the median one of them jumped straight onto my bonnet.I braked hard but of no use because the buffalo landed thud on my bonnet.My radiator was shattered,the fan broke,coolant was leaking,windshield shattered,my door bent,in short it was a total catastrophe.The guys obviously ran away and the place was slightly isolated,even though it was daytime-145pm.Suddenly out of nowhere,appears a guy and offers to help in broken english,he immediately takes out his phone and calls up somebody and tells the other person in telugu(assuming that I did not understand the language)that there has been a crash and if he wanted business to come fast,i wasnt getting a right feel about it,I quickly acted as if I was calling up the police control room and the man vanished without a trace.I realised many things that day,the onroad assistance numbers are a complete sham.They gave me around 5 numbers claiming they are all maruti service centers and towing centers and not one of them was a service center number.I was stuck in the middle of the road with a child and wife and none of the cars or buses stopping by.Quite a traumatic situation it was.then i had to gather my wits and called up people here and there and finally got a scorpio to come from 100kms away to tow the vehicle to the nearest service center.So the next time,if somebody sees an accident,gauge the situation and if it is indeed a genuine situation do stop and do whatever possible.I have decided to do that.

PS:The car came back with a bill of INR40k and we immediately went on a 6000kms rajasthan drive all the way from hyd!!Just didnt want that experience to scar any of us.

Hey Scudy!! Just came across this thread. I understand how you may have felt. It just burns you from inside when you hear these B%$T$Q% comment like she wont survive and wasting of balance. I get absolutely mad when I hear such stuff and get ashamed of the world we are living in. But your decision was not selfish at all. The times have changed a great deal. THis is not 70s when people were less dangerous. The society has changed to such a great extent that people fear of getting entangled with police or even with the person whom he tried to help. Thus they have become very skeptical while helping some(I am not talking about the auto wallas who were passing those comments. They are naturally inhuman). But us general public are scared and are not sure about the police either. You were lucky that you got a positive response from the police. But whatever you did you deserve a and

Even subtle gestures of humanity go missing sometimes. I was coming back from Madanapalle one night past Hoskote Industrial Area, I saw a bike speeding from the opposite direction, he perhaps a missed a right turn by a few feet and did a full swerve about 50 feet in front of my car and skidded from the left side of the road all the way to the right end. I managed to stop my car at a safe distance from the fallen vehicle and the injured guys. But the belongings they were carrying were all strewn on the road, dad got out of the car to help them as did some locals. And then all the vehicles behind me got impatient and overtook me and the first vehicle was a private bus operating on the rural side ( I hate them to the core from the day they told me to stand in the bus despite there being a seat so that people traveling longer distances would board the bus if there were empty seats, during my college days ), flattening all the belongings of the injured ( one of which I think was a wall clock which was miraculously unbroken after the fall ). I cringed at the sight of it.

Another bad story I read in the papers a few months back was when a gentleman's car turned turtle and he saw people rushing towards the car. He thanked god that help was coming, but to his dismay saw the folks put their hands through the window to rip whatever they could off : his wallet, the stereo etc.

That's one hell of an experience for sure Ranjith. Tks for sharing & that really states how one must remain cautious on highways & pathetic onroad assistance. Can't believe it from Maruti!!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by ranjitp1

So the next time,if somebody sees an accident,gauge the situation and if it is indeed a genuine situation do stop and do whatever possible.

How do you know its a genuine one unless you stop the car & find out Ranjith? When you stop & if something unfortunate happens, next time you'll decide not to stop over & conclude not to help anyone.

See, the point is, there're crooks everywhere & as a human we intent to help, but if people starts misusing it the help, the humanitarian also will stop & I guess, that's how everything stopped here.

I witnessed a minor such incident y'day in front of American public school in Chennai. I don't know what happened exactly, but I saw an American teacher help putting the vegetables back into the cart & the owner of the cart was busy fighting with another person. So I assume that someone knocked over the cart & instead of putting back things, the owner is fighting with the other person because someone else is doing his job. Worst thing was the cart was facing the opposite direction, so I assume either the cart owner or the person who knocked it came in wrong way. Me, obviously didn't stop, but felt pity on the American teacher who was helping.

In the West, I dont mind helping people who are injured / victims of an accident, but the harrasment that follows (in India) definetly throws me out from helping.

I work for IT Industry and whenever Police come to my place / office or ask me to come to court since i may be considered a witness, I cannot take permission from my manager everytime. Moreover it is a hassle everytime since we become "involved" in the Acccident Case.

My Career stand "Screwed" the moment I am involved with any police case.

Let me talk like a manager now. Assume a sales person sold some mobile sim cards to a terrorist without address proof check and later it becomes a police case. Will the sales person's manager appreciate him for making the sale (Meet sales targets) or will he shout for selling it to terrorist. Already Most Managers wait for a chance to give a bad appraisal, getting involved in a case and taking frequent permissions for court will be like dry-fruits and nuts and toppings on a cake to screw the hikes / promotions.

Similarly If i happen to be involved in Police Case, do you think my manager and my family will appreciate me on helping a soul or would they shout at me for getting involved in a police case. They would simply say "when others did not care why did you care". I am a simple common man with no Police / Political "connections". I am salary dependent for survival and do not have any Business or Shares or Stock or Property to fall back. Given this scenario, i am better off not helping at least in a country like india. (sorry for this remark)

In a country where you may see in future Marriage tax (Marriage = pleasure = entertainment = Pay tax, Walking tax), i would definetly save my own skin than save others' skin.

Take another example, If i offer lift to someone and get mugged by the person who asked lift, (there are many cases like that), would people appreciate me for offering lift to a person and garland me that i helped him or will people advice me why i offered lift to an unknown person. I never offer lift to a person however well-dressed he is.

It is good to help a person. It is human to help people but in a country like India, i would not want to get my shoes dirty. I am better off minding my own business.

This is my personal view and how i would react on seeing and accident and not intended to hurt anyone.